extended warning

Austinites wake to power outages as Winter Storm Warning is extended through Thursday

Icing has led to dangerous roads and downed power lines as the Winter Storm Warning continues.

Photo courtesy of CultureMap

The Winter Storm Warning for Central Texas has been extended until 6 am Thursday, and Austin is experiencing widespread power outages as a result. Light freezing rain and drizzle created significant travel issues on elevated roads through Tuesday, while a heavier round of freezing rain overnight into Wednesday morning brought significant icing to much of Central Texas.

Travel conditions Wednesday morning will be the worst of the week. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began pretreating bridges and overpasses on major Austin roads on Sunday in preparation for the expected icy conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Even so, crashes and closures have been reported as roads remain slick.

Officials are warning residents to stay off the roads if they can because of icy conditions. If you must drive, take it slow. If a signal is dark, treat it as a four-way stop. An interactive map of road closures and a list of H-E-B closures can also be found on KVUE's website.

Through mid- and late morning Wednesday, temperatures remain below freezing for much of Central Texas with pockets of heavy freezing rain possible for western Travis, western Williamson and parts of the Hill Country. On Tuesday, Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell issued a disaster declaration, which activates the recovery and rehabilitation aspects of the Williamson County Emergency Management Plan and allows the County to take all legal actions necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of county residents, Williamson County said in a release.

By late afternoon Wednesday, warmer air will begin moving into the Austin metro. This could begin to ease icing concerns for the late day. However, for the northern I-35 corridor and Hill Country temperatures will remain below freezing, and this means icing issues could persist into Thursday morning, which is when the last round of precipitation moves through.

KVUE is continuing to update its list of weather-related school closures across the area.

Read the full versions of these stories and watch the videos at KVUE.com.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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extended warning

Austinites wake to power outages as Winter Storm Warning is extended through Thursday

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